CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner. But the best part is that it's fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware!

My Thoughts:

This is a great free program that purges your system, getting rid of all the temporary files that are no longer required.

It also comes with a Registry Cleaner which removes entries that can be left behind when you uninstall a program.

Try it out - the first scan will take upto 5 minutes (as it maps out your drive) subsequent scans take a matter of seconds.

Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins.

My Thoughts:

Paint.NET is simple to use and has a well designed user interface. I'd say you can pick up the tools fairly quickly and there are plenty of youtube tutorial videos to help you on your way.

This probably wouldn't suit hardcore graphic designers that feel they need every last function included in Adobe's Photoshop but it has 80%+ of that functionality (perhaps even 90%+ with add-ons) which is really mind-blowing considering this is a free program.

mr_wiggles

ReviewPrague-based ALWIL Software has offered "Free antivirus for everyone" for what seems like forever. The company was founded in 1991 and their core product dates back to 1988. With around 100 million users they protect a substantial fraction of all consumer PCs worldwide. Due to a blip in the release schedule, I wound up previewing the beta last November. Now available for all, avast! Free Antivirus 5.0 (free, direct) has a totally new appearance and offers significantly enhanced protection against malware.

Bottom LineThe new user interface of avast! free antivirus makes it easier to use, and its new technology eliminates more malware. This tool offers more control over settings and more detail in reporting than some of its free competitors.

ConsFull scan and boot scan both take a long time. Some threats still present after supposed removal. Boot scan requires user interaction if threats found.

___________________________________________________________

My Opinion:

Avast is a great free anti virus, it has protected my computer from multiple attacks since i have installed it, updates on a daily bases so its always able to detect the newest viruses and spy-ware. It also has web protection that will detect if a web site has a virus on it before you go to it, (this has helped with some torrents that i was looking at). If your looking for a free anti virus that gets the job done then look no further.

It's a decent on screen recorder, although it requires some editing of the default settings to make it record just the way you want it too, For example when i was recording a piece of my game, i had to edit the capture rate to match the FPS of the program. What i thought was nifty was that it records directly from your audio card "if supported", this can give you decent sound quality with out having to hold a mic to the speakers to get some game SFX.